The Seven Spot

Marsh Family Christmas Tree, 2008 Edition

Saturday will be a sad day in the Marsh household.  We'll finally awaken from our sugar plum dreams, and will have to face reality.

Yes, the Christmas tree will finally come down.

This is only Dan & me's second married Christmas, so we're still nailing down our new family traditions, but there is one that, so far, we seem to agree upon:

GO COMPLETELY APESHIT OVER THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

We've got very high ceilings in our living room, so that means, naturally, that we need the absolute biggest Christmas tree we can find.  Last year, it was about 10 feet tall, but this year Dan decided to not mess around and came home with this massive 12-footer:

 

(Click on any of the pics to enlarge!)

Isn't it a beauty?  We can hardly stand to take down such a glorious display of holiday cheer.  Except that my stupid cat keeps eating the lights.  And the needles are falling off.  And, well let's face it:  this tree pales in comparison to next year's 14-footer.  Okay, it's time to come down.  But before we do that, let's take a little tour of some of my favorite ornaments...

Every tree needs a monogram or two:

   

Christmas is a time to celebrate love:

   

I found my prince!

The date we got engaged...

A few wine-themed ornaments:

   

And lots of Cardinal ones (this is Christmas in St. Louis, after all):

        

 

Someone's started running again!  Woo hoo!

 

One for each of our boys:

         

   

Commemorating the sale of our log cabin (finally!):

  

Go Tigers!

   

Memories of our Italian honeymoon:

 

RIP, Diet Coke (I've effectively cut it out of my diet, but more on that later):

 

A few from my childhood, lovingly handed down by my mom:    

A few miscellaneous favorites:

  

     

And one more of the glorious Marsh family tree of 2008, all lit up:

 

Happy belated Christmas to all!

CSA?

Is anyone out there a member of a CSA?  I'm thinking of joining one and would love to hear about your experience!  It seems like a great way to get fresh, local, organic produce, which I'm all about these days.  And you should be too.

Set Your Tivo!

Wanna see my uber-handsome dad on Dateline NBC this Friday?  Of course you do!  Who cares if the story covered is a bit morose?  It's actually very interesting, and you can see for yourselves where I get all of my good looks & charm.

Dateline NBC - Friday night, 10/9 central.

Welcome Back, Sarah!

Hello, hello to my long-lost blogging buddies!  Here's hoping that your 2009 is going as well as mine so far. 

And it's a welcome change.

We had a bit of a rough year in 2008, and to be completely honest I really didn't have the energy or inclination to blog about the experiences as I was going through them.  I suppose that blogs are really supposed to be a true journal of your life experiences, and I think in the future I might stick to that philosophy a bit more, but I really didn't want to turn this into a big b*tch-fest for all the world to see. 

The point now, is that I'm "back in society" (as my darling Danny says) and ready to catch up with you all.  To give you my updates, I've come up with a little something we'll call...

08/09:  A Study in Contrast*

2008:  Undergo four (count 'em) very painful and hard-from-which-to-recover GI surgeries

2009:  Advised by trusted GI docs that further surgeries are not needed (yay!)

2008:  Miss approximately 3 months of work due to said surgeries

2009:  Get promoted, even after missing 3 months of work due to said surgeries

2008:  Must rely on massive amounts of painkillers in order to function in daily life

2009:  Make the decision to get off painkillers and find natural pain management alternatives

2008:  Painkillers fight back, causing months of extremely difficult withdrawal symptoms

2009:  I fight back harder, and kick painkillers' asses.  Two more months and I will be completely weaned off the slimy bastards (double yay!)

2008:  Have no energy to exercise; gain 25 lbs. and lots of insecurities.  Still in pain, but with no painkillers

2009:  With the help of an *incredible* natural foods health counselor, drastically change diet and work on insecurity issues.  Lose first 10 lbs and become PAIN FREE!  (More to come on this- I have lots to say on the benefits of eating whole, non-processed foods for not only pain management but just "life management" in general...)

2008:  Continue to pay two mortgages (for a total of 16 months) due to really crappy real estate market

2009:  SELL HOUSE!  Be a normal newlywed couple without the stresses of double-house payments and chronic pain.  Fall more in love with husband for being so wonderful in 2008.  Plan big summer trip to Europe.  Thank God for bring me victoriously through once again, and using the experience to bring me closer to Him.  Enjoy being myself again!

*okay, so some of the '09 updates happened in late 2008, but you get the idea...

I really want to thank everyone for your emails and comments checking in with me, and to apologize if I didn't respond to you at the time.  I hope you will understand.

Leslie and I had a great talk the other night, and she told me that I really need to start blogging again because she knows I have so much more to write.  And I think she's right. 

It's great to be back!!